Chair



Feb. 25, 1941. H, DRAKE 2,232,775

CHAIR Filed Feb. 4, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l F I 7 E 21 7 0 y 5, 4 v j /b l L.)

INVENTOR 3.11. pink-:6

Feb. 25, 1941. B. H. DRAKE 2,232,775

CHAIR Filed Feb. 4/1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Patented F eb. 25, 1941 ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

4 Claims.

This invention relates generally to a chair structure and in particular is directed to and represents modifications over the chair structure shown in my United State Letters Patent No.

2,138,269 dated Nov. 29, 1938.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a chair structure arranged for selective movement to and from a reclining position, the seat of the chair being arranged for sliding movement and mounted so that upon such movement, the rear thereof describes an are below the arc center.

An additional object is to provide a gear controlled mechanism to effect the movement of the several chair members from an upright to reclining position and visa versa; such gear controlled mechanism being particularly arranged in novel connection with the seat whereby to swing the rear of the seat through an are upon sliding movement of the seat in one direction or the other.

A further object of the invention is the provision of chair control mechanism wherein the leverage of the mechanism is such as to facilitate 25 operation of the chair by a person sitting therein and without arising therefrom.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the chair with the near side shield partly broken away.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the chair with the near side member removed.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary section of Fig. 1.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary front end view of the chair.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary section on line 55 of Fig. 1.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the chair comprises a main frame including side members I, and end frames 2; the main frame being supported on legs 3. Chair sides 4 are secured to and extend upwardly from the side members I, there being arm rests 5 on the upper edges of the chair sides.

A seat'frame 6, having a seat 7 disposed thereon line 3-3 tracks 9 fixed'on the bottom of the seat frame alon the sides and adjacent the front thereof. The rear end of the seat frame is provided with spaced depending bearing blocks which project ,a cross rod H which extends between the outer ends of crank arms [2 journaled on the side members I as at l3. The rear end of the seat is thus supported by said crank arms.

The upper stub shaft I4 of one crank arm, outwardly of the adjacent member I, carries a pinion i5 which meshes with a segmental gear Hi. This gear is below the pinion and its axial shaft is journaled on the bottom of frame I at a point somewhat ahead of shaft [4. An operating lever l8 projects upwardly from the gear to a termi-' nation below the .arm rest 5 and is provided on its upper end with a grip IS. The lever cooperates with a suitable holding quadrant 28, the

quadrant, the portion of the lever below the quadrant and the gears being enclosed by a shield plate 2|. I

When the chair is in an upright position, the lever is slightly ahead of a vertical position, and is adapted to bemoved forward to a substantially horizontal position to place the chair in a full reclining position as indicated in Fig. 1. The ratio of the gear and pinion is substantially 2 to 1 so that the angular travel of the crank arms is about double that of the lever. A roller R, whose axis is radial with shaft I4, is mounted on the outer face of each .crank arm near its lower end, and bears against the inner face of the adjacent side frame member as shown in Fig. 3. These rollers prevent possible lateral deflection of. the crank arms and seat frame due to movements of the occupant, in any position of the seat frame.

A seat back 22 is hinged or pivoted at its lower end between upstanding arms 23 fixed on the rear of the seat frame, and the upper portion of the seat back is supported by means of rollers 24 at the side edges which ride in inwardly facing channels 25 rigidly secured in connection with the sides 4 of the chair at the back thereof. The. mounting of the seat back is substantially the same as in my copending application identified above.

A curved protective shield 26 extends between the side frame members I at the rear of the chairupwardto a point adjacent the lower" end [0 through 7 of the seat back, the lower end of the shield being hinged, as at 21, to said side frames while the shield at-the upper end portion .and on the edges i provided with small guide rollers 28 which ride in channel guides 29 fixed on the rear face of the seat back. This shield protects the legs of a person in the next rearward chair when the chairs are used in transportation vehicles.

The chair is provided with .a counter-balance which comprises spaced arms 30 pivoted at 3| to the rear face of the front end frame member 2, and extending rearwardly where they are supported by compression springs 32 mounted on the side frame members. Rollers 33 on the inner ends of the arms 30 ride on flat tracks 34 secured to the under side of the seat frame.

To shift the chair from an upright to a semireclining or fully reclined position, the occupant grasps the handle [9 and moves the same forward. This causes the pinion I to rotate swinging crank arms l2. These crank arms [2 are disposed at a rearward slope, .as shown in Fig. 2 when the chair is in an upright position. Thus, when the occupant moves the lever forward, the crank arms initially swing downward and the rear of the seat frame, with the forward sliding movement thereof, moves downward as is desirable when the seat back is in a semi-reclining position. With further forward movement of the lever by the occupant, the crank arms swing up again, the rear of the seat then rising with the continued movement of the cranks and resultant forward sliding of the seat frame. When the seat is fully advanced and the seat back fully reclined, the seat resumes a normal position relative to a horizontal plane as is then desirable. Through such operation the seat, at the rear, has defined an are as is obvious.

By mounting the crank arms so that they slope rearwardly when the chair is upright and by mounting the lever is so that the degrees of movement of the crank arms through the downward portion of an are indicated at A is less than the following upward portion indicated at B, the seat when moved forward to a fully advanced position is then disposed so that it is substantially parallel with the position occupied when retracted, or with a comfortable but not excessive upward slope to its foward end. The total movement of the seat is accompanied by a relatively long movement of the crank arms and of the lever, reducing the pressure necessary to actuate the Latter through a given distance. Ease of movement of the seat is aided by the fact that as the seat advances, the turning moment of the seat about the rollers 8 decreases.

This is valuable in that the lever as it moves further forward assumes .a position increasingly hard for the occupant to exert pressure thereon, and this is counteracted by the above described arrangement and movement of the parts.

Also as the seat approaches a fully advanced position, the position of the crank arms is such as to require the most force on the lever, and such force can be applied by the occupant without undue effort. This is'due to the fact that the lever is then approaching the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. l, and the occupant is leaning forward and his body weight can be applied to said lever, and further the seat is relieved from much of such body weight,

A rubber cushion block C is mounted in each channel 25 at the top in position to be engaged by roller 24 just before the lever l9 reaches its topmost position and the corresponding holding notch in the quadrant 2D, or when the chair is in its normal upright position. The cushion block is thus compressed somewhat when the lever is held at its topmost position, which has the effect of taking all the slack out of the mechanism and reducing rattling noises if vibration is present.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by tters Patent is:

1. In .a reclining chair, a main frame, a seat frame, means supporting the seat frame adjacent its forward end for longitudinal sliding movement at a fixed level, as well as for tilting movement in a vertical plane, spaced depending crank arms pivotally mounted on the main frame to the sides of the seat frame adjacent its rear end, means suspending the seat frame from the crank arms at their lower end, a pinion fixed on one arm axially of its pivot mounting, a gear mounted on the main frame in mesh with the pinion, and a control lever fixed on the gear and projecting therefrom alongside the chair for operation whereby the forward movement of the lever will impart a forward swinging movement to the crank arms.

2. A chair as in claim 1, in which the gear is below the pinion and the lever extends upwardly ahead of the pinion.

3. In a reclining chair, a main frame, a seat frame, means supporting the seat frame adjacent its forward end for longitudinal sliding movement at a fixed level, as Well ,as for tilting movement in a vertical plane, spaced depending crank arms pivotally mounted on the main frame to the sides of the seat frame adjacent its rear end, means suspending the seat frame from the crank arms at their lower end, an upstanding hand lever pivoted on the main frame and operating connections between the lever and crank arms arranged to impart an opposite rotative movement to the crank arms with rotative movement of the lever.

4. In a reclining chair including a main frame, a seat frame, means supporting the seat frame adjacent its forward end for longitudinal sliding movement at a fixed level, as well as for tilting movement in a vertical plane, spaced crank ,arms disposed to the sides of the seat frame, said crank arms being journaled at one end on the main frame and pivoted at the other end on the seat frame adjacent its rear end, and manually actuated means to swing said crank arms relative to their journals whereby to effect longitudinal sliding movement of the seat frame as well as predetermined vertical tilting movement; said manually actuated means comprising a pinion mounted in connection with one crank arm axially of its journal, a gear mounted on the main frame and in mesh with the pinion, and a control lever fixed on the gear and projecting substantially radially therefrom and outwardly of the seat frame for operation.

BENJAMIN H. DRAKE. 

